DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Rick Riordan does.

A/N: I got the latest Heroes of Olympus book today, "The Son of Neptune." I know it's late, but better late than never. To celebrate, I decided to update a quick chapter. I apologise for any mistakes, OOCness, not up to your standards, etc.

Thanks for all the support! (:

I updated a new chapter of Family yesterday, for Remembrance Day (11/11), so if you want to read it, feel free.

A Brief Encounter

The war between the Red and Blue teams was about to begin.

"OK," Annabeth began, "We'll need a distraction here." She pointed towards her map of Camp Half Blood. "So, we'll need about 5 runners?" She turned her head over to face Malcolm, as if awaiting a confirmation.

Malcolm responded with a quick nod of his head. "Any thrill seekers?" He asked the rest of the Red team. Last week, the Blue team had unfortunately won the game of Capture the Flag, with Clarisse swooping towards their territory with the flag that she had recovered. A few cabins had constantly rubbed it into the Red teams' faces, especially the Ares cabin.

They just wouldn't let them live it down. Nor, could the Athena cabin accept defeat. This time, they were determined to win.

And they were pretty sure they were going to win as well.

The Apollo cabin had joined their alliance, providing the Red team, the best archers the camp had. The Poseidon cabin –also known as Percy, since no one else lived there at the time –would provide them the finest creek defence the camp offered. Unfortunately, neither the Hades, nor Zeus cabin were present. The Hephaestus cabin had joined them as well.

And the Hermes crew?

Originally, they were on the victorious team –the Blue team –but Annabeth had brought up a "favour", and they didn't have much of a choice in terms of options. By "favour", the Athena cabin had meant: "Join our alliance, and we won't rat you out to Chiron and Mr D, with the prank you played on Mr D last week. I'm sure he would love to find out who was responsible for the toad in his Diet Coke."

"Dunno' what you're talking about," Travis had answered nonchalantly.

"Nice try, Travis," Annabeth had replied. "But, we've got the evidence."

"Nu-uh," he objected. "You don't have anything because I didn't do anything."

"Do you really want to try us?" Annabeth questioned. Travis was tempted to say "yes", even though he was quite confident that the Athena cabin was not bluffing. However, as tempted as he was to agree and to test whether they really had the evidence, he didn't. His cabin already had the worst shower times imaginable.

"But that's blackmail!" Travis had protested. His answer had been a shrug, and a confident, "It's your choice…"

The teams had pretty much stayed the same, with the exception of the swaps. The Red team now had: the Hermes, Poseidon, Athena, Hephaestus, Apollo and Nemesis cabins (due to their faithful pact with the Hermes cabin, and besides, they had stated, "We can't stand Drew."). And of course, the Athena cabin was the leaders.

Every other cabin had united forces with the Blue team, which was led by the Ares cabin.

"Val, Con, Hay, Elle, and me –I guess," Travis answered indifferently. "You OK with that?" He asked his cabin.

"Whatever," Valerie answered. She wanted the planning over with, after all, sitting there and listening to the strategy that the Hermes cabin was probably not going to follow, bored the Hades out of them.

Confirmations and new ideas were implemented in the preparation before the game.

When an hour passed by, Chiron gathered the campers together.

"There will be no maiming or killing other campers in this game. Teams may take prisoners, but may not gag or bound them, torture them or scream in their ears," he stated clearly, giving a knowing look at the Hermes cabin in particular, when he had mentioned, "scream in their ears".

The Hermes cabin on the other hand, had whistled and looked away.

Chiron continued, "Magical items are allowed. And so are the usages of your powers. The creek is the boundary line, and I will serve as battlefield medic and referee. Be careful of the monsters which lurk in the forest." He paused before beginning again, "I think that is all, and without further ado…"

He blew the conch horn, signalling the beginning of the game.

Campers charged off, the red and blue plumes were visible through the mass of crowds.

The Red team positioned themselves, following their strategy.

Valerie surged through the forest, her sword in hand. She jumped over the rocks in her path, and swerved nimbly around the trees at a swift pace. She seemed to have flown through the forest, treating it as an obstacle course. Being a child of Hermes may not have given you control of the water, the ability to cause a crack in the earth and raise the dead, or the power to manipulate electricity to your will – like the children of the Big Three could – but it did have its advantages.

You would have possessed a much greater talent in terms of dexterity and manoeuvrability, among a few other abilities. If you took advantage of it, this made you a star on the sports team –preferably, track and field.

"There you are," Clarisse smirked, Maimer in hand.

Valerie let out a nervous laugh, "Here I am."

"I still haven't exactly got you back for the Maimer incident." She charged towards Valerie, swinging her sword. With a quick dodge, Valerie avoided a beheading. Although she avoided a fatal injury, she also gained a small wound on her arm.

"You did," Valerie protested, "You dislocated my shoulder. And remember, the no 'killing and maiming' rule?"

"Did I?" Clarisse seemed to ask herself sarcastically, disregarding the rule Valerie had brought up. No one followed it anyways. She replied snidely, "I don't remember."

"I thought we were going to talk about this," she said nervously, barely fending off Clarisse's aggressive attacks. "You know, I think you need a name that brings out your feminine side. How about, 'Isabella'?" Valerie seemed to be provoking her even more with her jokes.

"We did talk," Clarisse answered promptly, swinging her sword again to break her block.

Valerie fell onto her back, as she positioned her sword diagonally above her neck. She tried to push forward with her sword, and get back onto her feet, but Clarisse was too strong.

Clarisse pushed down harder, until both blades were barely above her. An arrow whistled the air, followed by a few more, diverting Clarisse's attention, and allowing Valerie to make a getaway.

"You owe me!" Will yelled from his perch. She replied with a quick mock salute, before darting off.

"Name it after the game!" She hollered, as she ran. "Something I can steal, y'know?"

Thanks for reading, and please leave a review.

As a reply to a review, I didn't get "Fang" from Maximum Ride. I was reading, White Fang by Jack London, before writing the chapter, and I decided to put "fang" into the title. Besides, wasn't Jack London a son of Mercury? (:

As a response to another review, no, the story isn't finished yet. I'm thinking of ending it with an epilogue, although I'm not sure.

If you want, please read my latest fanfiction, "Steps Back in Time" and "Family." Thanks again for all the support. :D